An Author's Perspective on Independent Publishing: Why Self-Publishing May Be Your Best Option

By Lee Foster

Lee Foster has published a new book about the independent publishing movement. After doing 16 books with traditional publishers, why did Lee switch to doing four books “independently” published or “indie?” Why does he now recommend this path for most authors? The book describes Lee’s advice on the publishing of printed books (print-on-demand), ebooks, books-as-websites, apps, and audiobooks.

The book is An Author’s Perspective on Independent Publishing: Why Self-Publishing May Be Your Best Option.

The book is both an Author’s journey in this gradual transition from traditional to indie publishing and a practical how-to guide for Authors who may wish to follow a parallel path.

Self-publishing is now an ascending practice and will continuing to thrive, in Lee's assessment of the current market. More and more Authors are pursuing the independent publishing dream. Technology developments make “indie” publishing more plausible with each passing year. Increasing market access for indie Authors continues to erode the domain that traditional publishers once ruled exclusively.

The book covers the logical subjects that developed in Lee Foster's practices, as the table of contents suggests:

1. How Traditional Publishing Worked (and Sometimes Still Works)
2. Why Independent Publishing, Also Known As Self-Publishing, Arose
3. Why Independent Publishing Today and Tomorrow May Be Your Most Viable Option
4. Your Print-on-Demand Book
5. Your Ebook Distribution
6. Your Book Content as a Website/Blog, Funded Partly by Advertising
7. Your Social Media Outreach
8. Your Book Marketing Strategy
9. Your Need for Quality Design in Independent Publishing
10. Your Book’s Possible Specialized Adaptations, such as an Audiobook, Chinese Translation, and App

Modern Authors restless with their traditional publishing options and experiences may find some comfort in the self-publishing trajectory described in this book. Lee Foster had a very positive experience with his traditional publishing partnerships in the past. It’s just that with all the new opportunities, indie seems much more appealing to him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Foster
• Release date: Jun 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9780976084365

Lee Foster

Lee Foster, born in 1943, grew up in a Minnesota of fishing for black bass, playing baseball, and hunting for ring-necked pheasants. He was the son of a factory owner in Mankato, a small city of 30,000. He took an under¬graduate degree in Great Books at the University of Notre Dame and a graduate degree in English-American Literature at Stanford University, where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. After these years of reading, some travel in Europe, and an increasing interest in photog-raphy, he began his own books of fiction and nonfiction. His main attention in recent decades has been travel writ-ing/photography. He now lives in Berkeley, California. His range of travel journalism can be seen on his Foster Travel Publishing website at http://www.fostertravel.com. He has been active in developing travel articles, photos, books, ebooks, apps, websites, and now audiobooks. Some of his work has been with traditional publishers; other efforts have been as an independent publisher. Over the years, Lee has published travel writing/photography in almost all the leading U.S. travel magazines and newspapers. His book partnerships include the use of his travel photos in more than 300 Lonely Planet books. His main personal books/ebooks are listed on his website at http://www.fostertravel.com/shop/. His recent works currently available include: 2015: Minnesota Boy: Growing Up in Mid-America, Mid-20th Centu-ry (book, ebook, a re-publication on his 1970 book Just 25 Cents and Three Wheaties Boxtops) 2015-2009: Three Sutro Media travel apps: San Francisco Travel and Pho-to Guide, Berkeley Essential Guide, and Washington DC Travel and Photo Guide 2014: Travels in an American Imagination: The Spiritual Geography of Our Time (audiobook in 2014, book from 2005, ebook from 2013) 2013: Northern California Travel: The Best Options (book, ebook, website) Back Roads California (publisher Dorling Kindersley, co-author, book) 2009: The Photographer’s Guide to San Francisco (publisher Coun-tryman Press, book, ebook) The Photographer’s Guide to Washington DC (publisher Coun-tryman Press, co-author, book, ebook) 2002: Northern California History Weekends (publisher Globe Pe-quot, book)

Book preview

An Author’s Perspective on Independent Publishing

Why Self-Publishing May Be Your Best Option

Lee Foster

Foster Travel Publishing

Berkeley, California

Copyright © 2016 by Lee Foster, Revised Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

Lee Foster

Foster Travel Publishing

1623 Martin Luther King

Berkeley, California 94709

www.fostertravel.com

An Author’s Perspective on Independent Publishing: Why Self-Publishing May Be Your Best Option

ISBN for printed book 978-0-9760843-4-1

ISBN for ebook 978-0-9760843-6-5

Writing By:

Lee Foster

Edited By:

Ann F. Purcell

Jim Gebbie

This book is dedicated to my wonderful and entrepreneurial sons, Paul and Bart.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Independent Publishing Dream, and Why So Many Authors Now Embrace It

The Overview:

1. How Traditional Publishing Worked (and Sometimes Still Works)

2. Why Independent Publishing─Also Known As Self-Publishing─Arose

3. Why Independent Publishing May Be Your Most Viable Option Now and in the Future

The Details:

4. Your Print-on-Demand Book

5. Your Ebook Distribution

6. Your Book Content As a Website/Blog, Funded Partly by Advertising

7. Your Social Media Outreach

8. Your Book Marketing Strategy

9. Your Need for Quality Design in Independent Publishing

10. Your Book’s Possible Specialized Adaptations, such as an Audiobook, Chinese Translation, and App

Conclusion:

Your Vision and the Execution of Your Vision, Why No One Can Replicate You

About the Author

Introduction:

The Independent Publishing Dream, and Why So Many Authors Now Embrace It

Our world of modern publishing is a new and exciting world in numerous ways. Many aspects of our lives, including our publishing lives, are experiencing rapid change. Technological advances are having a profound effect on us, way beyond what we can comprehend.

Publishing our books independently can be a fun, engaging, intellectually stimulating, and profitable activity.

An Author (please allow me to capitalize this noun throughout this book) can now connect with a reader in ways never previously imagined. There are similar tech parallels in other human endeavors. For example, individuals who now want to travel and stay in a private room in a residence can now do so through Airbnb. And Airbnb has more market value in the stock market today than Hilton and Hyatt and several other top players combined. How did Airbnb achieve this dominance in lodging without ever investing in a single hotel?

Today an Author can independently publish (or self-publish, if you prefer that term) a book with print-on-demand print-book technology at relatively low cost. The Author can also develop a parallel ebook with new technology at a similar minimal cost. Then the Author can get access to the vast market of worldwide consumers as well as to all bookstores and libraries. The initial marketing mechanism of major consequence is Amazon. As of 2014, it was reported, selling of books online surpassed the selling of books in brick-and-mortar bookstores. As an independent or indie publisher of books/ebooks, I have the same access as all my traditional publishing partners to the Amazon marketplace. This is a technology revolution in publishing parallel to the Airbnb saga in lodging.

Currently, I have four independently published or self-published books in Amazon (I will use the code word indie for brevity from now on). I have 16 traditionally published books, with major publishers. These books can be seen on my Amazon Author Page and on my Foster Travel Publishing website at Foster Travel Publishing.

Amazon is a big, complicated, and controversial subject to discuss, and will figure in several chapters in this book. The critical concept for an indie Author to comprehend is that Amazon is the most successful contemporary seller of books. Amazon sells (data is a bit secretive) perhaps 60% or more of all the books and ebooks purchased in the United States. The actual figures may be higher. Managing your Amazon relationship wisely and judiciously is a major consideration for all Authors, indie and traditional.

The main question you may have for me is, After publishing 16 traditional books, why did you proceed to do four indie books? And why do you appear to believe that indie is the most viable path forward for most Authors? This book will describe my own evolution on this publishing trajectory and indicate all the specific strategies I am following. I have even made some mistakes that you can avoid, with my current knowledge. Note that the best strategies will continue to evolve, some quite rapidly. I will periodically re-release this book to reflect the changing times.

Success is not guaranteed in the indie publishing world. Success was also never guaranteed in the traditional publishing world. Success depends on multiple factors, primarily today and tomorrow on the Author continuing to nurture a positive relationship with readers. However, one thing is absolutely different in this new world of indie publishing: Today no one can tell an Author that his or her work is not worth publishing. In the past, a few gatekeepers determined what could and should and would be published. That era is now over. The reader will now decide what is worth being published, by either buying or ignoring the published products.

The burdens (and opportunities) of publishing now fall on the Author. The burdens are substantial. The Author has the responsibility to produce a book of respectable literary and design quality. The Author is now the marketer of the book. The Author may need to invest in editors, designers, and marketers to make the product successful. The Author may want to establish a consistent Social Media presence to promote the book.

The main question on everyone’s mind is, "Which indie Authors will succeed in connecting with their